Bari Select Nature Old Briar 49 Smooth Bent Billiard (Estate)

Bari was a pipe company founded in Kolding, Denmark, in 1950. Bari was one of the first companies that started the Danish movement in pipe making, offering innovative designs and propelling its founders and carvers into celebrity status within the pipe world. Bari’s founder was Viggo Nielsen, whose sons Kai Nielsen and Jørgen Nielsen joined him in working at Bari, along with other soon-to-be famous names such as Åge Bogelund. Though the Bari company is long gone, its legacy lives on in the artisan pipe scene as it exists today.

The Danes have always been upfront about their fondness for the classics of pipe design, especially the briars that came out of Europe in the early 20th century. Prior to the emergence of the “Danish” style, many of the nation’s great pipe factories and workshops focused exclusively on Anglo-French staples, and many would reserve a place for the latter in their portfolios even after the former became a worldwide sensation.

From the looks of it, this is a very old Bari, possibly from that first decade of the workshop’s operation. Not only is it eminently traditional in form, but it also features a “System”-style drilling within the mortise, with a hollow chamber within the base of the shank for what I’d assume is moisture collection. It certainly wouldn’t be a first time that a pipe company had sought to emulate a particular Irish make in that regard, though I’m not familiar with Bari doing it during their more well known “Danish” decades.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening and a few slight scratches on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g